Christmas Day, Part 1

 

Despite this being the 14th time that Dan and I have woken up on Christmas morning in the same place, he said it's the first one in memory where he woke up smelling something cooking in the kitchen!  That's right, I cooked on Christmas this year!  And not only did I cook, but I cooked three different things in the oven - monkey bread for breakfast, ham & swiss cheese sandwiches for lunch, & pumpkin cake for dessert!

We knew that Brady and I would be up earlier than Tyler & Dan, & we also knew that we couldn't put any Christmas gifts under the tree until right before it was time for the boys to open them.  (If Brady saw any gift under the tree, he would assume it was for him to open!)  Thankfully, I had a birthday gift for Brady that he hadn't opened yet, so I gave it to him early to keep him occupied until our big boys were up.

Once Tyler & Dan were awake, I had all my boys wait upstairs so I could move all of the gifts from Dan's office (where I kept them locked up all morning!) to under the tree.  One of my favorite moments on Christmas morning is seeing Brady and Tyler walk downstairs & see their gifts under the tree.  Both boys were very happy with their gifts, which made us very happy!

I love these photos of Skye watching Brady on Christmas morning...

These photos of Tyler & Brady together were my most favorite Christmas gift...

I knew it would be our last day to have the house decorated so I took lots of photos...

Wrapped gifts ready to be opened on Christmas make me happy...

Christmas Eve

 

We had a very fun Christmas Eve!  While Dan and Tyler slept in, Brady wore an array of different outfits and played with his new blocks, while I took photos of him and Skye!  Once the boys were up, we packed up our car & headed to Northern Virginia to spend the day with Dan's mom!

The boys love seeing their Mummi!  She made a delicious meal (along with Dan's favorite - yorkshire pudding!)  We also had tiramisu!  The boys enjoyed opening their gifts, then Tyler took a bath in the tub with jets, & Brady insisted on going to the playground.  Even though he hadn't been to his Mummi's house in over a year, he definitely hadn't forgotten about the playground nearby!  We tried to explain to him that it was freezing cold, but then we realized we could drive to the playground on our way home & let him to play for a few minutes.  When we got back home, Tyler wanted to open one of his gifts, and he happened to open new lights for his room.  Dan helped him put them up on the walls, and they look so good!

We absolutely loved the slideshow of Dan's dad that Dan's mom shared with us.  There were photos of him I had never seen before, and it was so nice to have him be included in our holiday celebration. We miss him very much and love to tell Tyler and Brady stories about their Papaw Wilson.  It was very fun to see photos of Dan as a child too.  Tyler and Brady both inherited his very long frame!

This was the only photo I managed to get of Dan's mom with Dan, Tyler, & Brady!

This is our Christmas Eve "family photo" - can you spot me in the mirror?!

I love seeing labels on gifts & Skye loved posing with one of Kaija's gifts before we brought it to her house...

I love Brady's handwriting so much...